A Touch Of Class

In Barrington Hills, Old Barricades Will Be Stylishly Replaced

For five long years, Barrington Hills has had to settle for a common, everyday barricade across Spring Creek Road-an orange-stripped blockade with a simple black-and-white sign reading, "Road Closed."

Effective, but not particularly stylish.

But now that Barrington Hills has won approval from the courts to keep Spring Creek Road closed, the village best known for its 5-acre country estates is making plans to bring its own touch to the permanent barrier to motorists.

The village is spending $32,000 to extend an electronic gate across the road, one that will enable police to determine exactly who can gain access to the neighborhood.

No longer will passing motorists be able to use Spring Creek Road as a shortcut to avoid traffic jams on Algonquin Road. The gate will not open for them.

For that matter, the two dozen homeowners along the 4-mile stretch of roadway also will have to find another way. But they have been using other area roads for years, and they were the ones who requested the barricade.

"It cuts down on all that traffic that had been going through here," said John Lamping, a homeowner on Spring Creek Road who supports the project.

The gate will only open for police and fire personnel, controlled by an emergency dispatcher in the Barrington Hills Village Hall.

Barrington Hills Village Administrator Robert Kosin said that when an emergency call comes into the village's 911 system, a dispatcher will raise the gate by remote control.

"The emergency time delays will be negligible," Kosin said.

Installation of the high-tech, 8-foot-long wooden gate, slated for completion next week, is in many ways symbolic of the battle between Barrington Hills and its neighbors over use of Spring Creek Road.

Originally built some 100 years ago as a "farm-to-market" road, Spring Creek Road fell victim to growing traffic in the suburbs, serving as a convenient shortcut for motorists.

Barrington Hills officials put up a barricade in 1988 and eventually were taken to court by neighboring Algonquin, where leaders viewed the roadblock as "snobbish."

Five years of legal wrangling ensued before the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in April that Barrington Hills could keep the barricade.

Barrington Hills leaders hoped that a good gate would make good neighbors, but work on the new barrier this week has re-ignited the long-running feud.

Chief Steve Kite of the Algonquin Fire Protection District said the barrier may slow fire vehicles down by as much as a minute, if there is a mechanical failure or human failure to communicate between fire and police agencies.

"If the fire call comes to our agency rather than Barrington Hills police, we will have to rely on communications between our dispatcher to Barrington Hills to get the gate raised," Kite said.

"If there is a mechanical failure, our people will have to saw the gate off with a chainsaw."

Kite's men get about 30 calls a year down Spring Creek Road to serve eastern Barrington Hills, which is split among four fire protection districts.

Michael Friesen, Algonquin's assistant village manager, said his municipality will be unable to snowplow about 150 feet of Spring Creek Road near the barricade because of an inadequate turnaround area for plows.

"They designed this structure without consulting us, so they will have to do that plowing," Friesen said.

"I'm a bit surprised that Algonquin's plows can't turn around in 25 or 30 feet, but we'll be glad to help them in any way we can," Kosin said.

Residents of Barrington Hills are taking a wait-and-see attitude, although they are trusting in the judgment of their village officials for now.

"I suppose it might slow down an ambulance, but fortunately we haven't had to use one," said homeowner Magdale Lamping.

The work is being done by a private contractor, and Kosin warned that Barrington Hills will prosecute people who try to tear the arm down. The 17-member Police Department regularly patrols the area, he said.